Katie Stewart is not your typical Pittsburgh sports fan.
In fact, she usually cheers on the Steel City from across the pond — yes, the Atlantic Ocean.
Hailing from Wolverhampton in England, Stewart, 31, became enthralled with the sports scene in Pittsburgh. She travels yearly to the city to watch her favorite sports teams play in person.
This week marks Stewart’s fifth consecutive yearly trip to visit the Steel City, where she watches games and meets up with friends she’s made on social media.
Stewart arrived on the tarmac at Pittsburgh International Airport Monday night after a 20-hour travel day. She left her house in England at 2 a.m. local U.K. time, took a bus to London Heathrow Airport, flew to Boston, took a connecting flight after a layover and landed in Pittsburgh at 5:45 p.m. local time, which is 10:45 p.m. U.K. time.
“Sometimes I take the direct flight; (it) just depends on the price of it and the availability,” she said.
Stewart is in town for 10 days — until next Thursday.
Discovering the Steel City
Though Stewart’s been an avid sports fan her whole life, she didn’t start supporting Pittsburgh sports until she discovered the Penguins in the mid-2010s.
She remembers seeing Sidney Crosby’s famed golden goal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and that was her first introduction to hockey. And she’s already familiar with the black and gold, as they are her hometown colors through the Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., known also as the Wolves, which is in the Premier League.
She has season tickets to the Wolves, as well as season tickets for NFL games when they come to London.
“At the time I got into hockey, the only player I knew was Sidney Crosby,” Stewart said. “It just made sense to support the Penguins.
“Our motto is out of darkness cometh light, which goes with the gold and black.”
When the covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, Stewart decided to make a social media account on X, formerly known as Twitter, to make friends with fellow Penguins fans so she’d have some people to talk sports with. She’s known as @KatieTalksPens.
“Right around the time when hockey was coming back during covid … I found some people,” she said. “In 2022, I came over here for the first time for a couple of Penguins games — they won both games while I was here, so that just solidified everything.”
From there, Steward discovered the Pirates and then the Steelers.
“I was a baseball fan at the time but didn’t really have a team,” she said. “Lots of people on Twitter were telling me come and watch the Pirates while you’re over here, and I just completely fell in love with them as well. The view from the park and just the kind of sport it is, with it just being so relaxed … it reminded me of cricket, which we have in England — you sit down for hours on end in the sunshine.”
Stewart’s family isn’t a sports family, she said, but she grew up with soccer and then watched more American sports as a teenager.
“When it’s the Olympics … I’m glued to the television,” she said. “It’s always just been a really big part of my life, and now it’s something that I kind of travel to do as well.”
Lunch at North Shore Tavern! IC Mango, pizza and the Pirates game about to start on the TV ???? pic.twitter.com/sDbLMHSHnJ
— Katie (@KatieTalksPens) April 1, 2026
Five trips in five years
After Stewart’s first visit in 2022, which she said was fantastic, she said she just hasn’t been able to stop coming back to Pittsburgh.
“I just go to sporting events wherever I am, really, but I think I’ve really found kind of a home in Pittsburgh,” she said. “I love coming over here — I’ve seen all of the teams play here.”
Every visit has been a solo trip, but the more Stewart visits, the more connections she makes.
“I really, really wanted to see the Penguins play,” as she’d never been to an ice hockey game before, which is why she came to Pittsburgh initially. “Every day, I was kind of meeting up with someone — so many people offered to take me on tours of places.
“I’m so lucky that I’ve got such a good group of friends here now. I stay with a friend in the South Side.”
During her first two visits, Stewart stayed in hotels Downtown, but by staying on the South Side, she said she’s able to see more of “the real Pittsburgh — good food, nice parks and really good, generous people.”
“(I) can ride the T every day, which might not sound that exciting to people that live here, but I love riding the T,” she said.
Stewart’s now been to Pittsburgh during every season except winter.
“For the past five years, every vacation I’ve had has been to Pittsburgh, except for I had 48 hours in Dublin last September when the Steelers played there,” she said.
Outside of the colors, Stewart said Pittsburgh reminds her of her hometown through various similarities.
“Where I’m from as well, it’s very industrial, very blue collar,” she said. “My city, Wolverhampton, has a history of steelmaking, as well as coal mining.”
When she’s not cheering on Pittsburgh sports, Stewart works as a primary school teacher in Birmingham. She teaches the equivalent of fifth grade, which is called Year 6 in England, for 10- and 11-year-olds.
“It’s perfect for coming to visit Pittsburgh because I have pockets of time off,” she said, as she has two weeks off currently for Easter/spring break. “We have 13 weeks of breaks, which is similar to here, but (it’s) much more spaced out. We never have more than seven weeks of school in a row without at least a week break.”
Pittsburgh plans
During this year’s trip, Stewart is attending three Penguins games and four Pirates games, including the home opener on Friday.
“It is my third home opener in five years, which is not bad considering, you know, I live 3,000 miles away,” she said, laughing. “I love the home opener; I love visiting at this time of year.”
After her first trip, Stewart said she decided to come back because there’s so much to see in Pittsburgh. She’s already seen most museums and parks.
“Whenever I have a trip here, my days are always packed,” she said. “It seems like every time I come, my list of places to visit here just gets longer because I get so many recommendations while I’m here.
“I guess I’m just a little bit addicted to the sports as well — could never go to enough Penguins or Pirates games.”
Penguins win 5-1! That’s how we start a KatieTalksPens trip to Pittsburgh ???????? I’ll be at both games against the Panthers at the weekend, let’s do this all again @Penguins#LetsGoPenspic.twitter.com/y5I3wGdDb4
— Katie (@KatieTalksPens) April 1, 2026
Stewart’s favorite attraction so far is the Sen. John Heinz History Center, which she said she’s been to during every one of her five visits.
“I’m basically part of the furniture there now,” she said, joking.
At the history center during her first trip, Stewart met a security guard who had lived in the same city that she had in England. Now, every time she comes to Pittsburgh, she has dinner with the security guard and his wife.
“That is just one of 100 stories that I’ve got about people that I’ve met, things that I have done,” she said. “There’s just so much I love.”
Additionally, Stewart enjoys the museums and Cathedral of Learning in Oakland, as well as riding the incline. She eats at Primanti Bros. every trip, too.
“I love riding the incline — it’s just a very quintessentially Pittsburgh thing,” she said. “It’s just all those little things that are just very Pittsburgh. That’s what I love to do every time I’m out here.”
So far, Stewart has a winning record for every Pirates, Penguins and Steelers game she’s seen in Pittsburgh over her visits.
“So long may that continue.”